Open Competition 2 - Biotechnology

New Medical Applications of Carbon Nanomaterials

Sponsor: Luna Innovations Incorporated

• Project Performance Period: 10/1/2001 - 3/31/2004
• Total project (est.): $2,857,263.00
• Requested ATP funds: $1,984,210.00

Since their discovery in 1985, fullerenes -- hollow structures formed when vaporized carbon condenses in an atmosphere of inert gas -- have been suggested as means of delivering medical reagents to patients, because the materials are nontoxic and do not break down in the body. Few applications have been found, however, because of a variety of obstacles, including fullerenes' insolubility in water. Luna Innovations Inc. plans to develop new medical reagents based on endohedral metalofullerenes, in which the carbon structure encapsulates certain paramagnetic metal atoms. Traditional endohedrals encapsulating one or two atoms are produced in small quantities and are unstable in oxygen, which raises the cost and limits applications. In a two-year project, Luna plans to use a new laboratory synthesis method to produce large quantities of materials that are stable in air and soluble in water. The method involves the encapsulation of three earth metal, or lanthanide metal atoms in various combinations. Sufficient quantities will be produced to develop the functional chemistry for making magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents, first an improved generic one and then others targeting specific cancer tissues. Such agents can brighten and the enhance contrast of the images by factors of 100 or more. The ATP funding will accelerate the small company's research by years. Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University (Blacksburg, Va.) will provide technical advice. If successfully developed and commercialized, the new technology could be used to make improved diagnostic methods, new pharmaceuticals, and reagents that can be used for diagnosis and treatment simultaneously. This advance also would enhance capabilities to visualize and image cancer tissues; the improved contrast would enable earlier detection of cancers, greatly reducing health care costs and improving patients' quality of life, and lead to the development of smaller, less costly MRI instruments, opening new markets for equipment manufacturers and making the tests more widely accessible.

For project information:

Karin Clark, (540) 961-4527
kclark@lunainnovations.com

ATP Project Manager

Thomas Wiggins, (301) 975-5416
thomas.wiggins@nist.gov